0 sitting in for don lemon. 22 embassies are just hours away from closing their doors amid fears of a terror attack. >> there's very little doubt, if any, that something serious is being planned. it's a potential series of attacks. could be almost anyplace. >> we are taking it seriously, which i think you'd expect us to do. yeah, there is a significant threat stream and we're reacting to it. >> the embassies will be closed, and there's a travel alert for americans traveling abroad. there's some understanding of the seriousness of the threat. >> well, let's delve in these embassy closures a bit deeper. tom fuentes joins us. he's our law enforcement analyst and former assistant director of the fbi. tom, 22 embassies and consulates will be closed as of tomorrow. the u.s. government is announcing that. why not close them immediately? >> well, i think the reason was because the threats that they intercepted were pretty date specific as to the end of ramadan, which is tomorrow, sunday. so i think that's why they didn't close them sooner, and actually in those countries the embassies would have already been closed on friday and saturday, the muslim holy days. so their weekends are basically friday and saturday. sunday is essentially the equivalent of monday in the west. it's the first day of the workweek. so closing them on sunday means closing them for the first day of the workweek, which coincides with the end of ramadan. >> and will they be closed for a protracted period of time? >> that we don't know. i think once you call on a threat, how do you call it off? so i don't know how long they'll keep them open or closed, i mean. or if they will add more embassies or reduce and just have a few closed. we don't know that yet. >> tom, the alert put out by the government cites what they call growing intelligence that al qaeda might be going operational with plans for an attack. what could that growing intelligence actually be? >> well, it could be, again, the type of interceptions that they're getting, the type of human source information from our allies, from the authorities in yemen. as a matter of fact, where they believe these discussions are coming from now. so there's a variety of ways they could be gaining the information and hear an increase in the amount of information being discussed by the terrorists. >> and, tom, the people in those embassies and consulates, what would they be doing? >> good question. i'm sure they're being told to stay home and be safe and not be wandering around or going shopping or anything like that. but, again, these embassies are like fortresses so by having them closed the real security will be local host country and law enforcement in most cases. i think benghazi was a rare circumstance because it was a small consulate in a remote area. >> al zawahiri posted a message calling on muslims to attack american interests. is this just coincidence? >> i don't think so. i think he's trying to, you know, essentially assume the mantle of bin laden and issue a periodic recorded statement encouraging his followers to commit attacks against the u.s. and u.s. interests. so i think in a way it's similar to what we've heard for many years starting with bin laden more than ten years ago. >> john fuentes, always good to talk to you. appreciate the incite. >> thank you, anna. shocking video that shows a close call for firefighters. a burning home in idaho collapsed while firefighters were battling the flames. no one was seriously hurt thanks to the fire captain. he realized the home was about to collapse, radioed the firefighters, and ordered them to back away. several firefighters got hit with burning debris and some were knocked to the ground. only minor injuries for a few firefighters. the fire chief says training and experience saved the day. well, after testifying this week in a boston mobster's murder trial, a former fbi man is talking exclusively to us here at cnn. he spoke harshly about the man on trial and the fbi as well. also, cnn special report that the results of a year-long investigation, it's a look into shocking fraud and abuse involving a taxpayer funded rehab program. that's coming up. i'll take that malibu. yeah excuse me, the equinox in atlantis blue is mine! i was here first, it's mine. i called about that one, it's mine. mine! mine. it's mine. it's mine. mine. mine. mine. mine. it's mine! no it's not, it's mine! better get going, it's chevy model year-end event. [ male announcer ] the chevy model year-end event. the 13s are going fast, time to get yours. current chevy truck owners can trade up to this chevy silverado all-star edition with a total value of $9,000.